An animal that has gained a cult following on social media is on the brink of extinction thanks to global warming and climate change, according to a new study.
Rising temperatures are having a devastating impact on the slow-moving two-toed highland and lowland sloths found in Central and South America that are unable to adapt to a warming world.
Scientists determined that as temperatures rise in high-altitude regions like Costa Rica, sloths need to increase the amount of energy they exude or relocate to colder climates.
Sloths live on a low-calorie diet, so conserving their energy is essential, making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to use enough energy to compensate for higher temperatures.
These adorable creatures have gained popularity and racked up millions of video views in recent years as clips of them in their natural habitat have gone viral.
The highland and lowland two-toed sloth found in Central and South America is on the verge of extinction
Over the past 50 years, Costa Rica’s land surface temperature has risen 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and researchers have warned that if the trend continues, sloths will become extinct by the end of the century.
“Sloths are especially vulnerable to rising temperatures due to their physiological adaptations,” said the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Rebecca Cliffe. news week.
“They survive on an extremely low-calorie diet, so conserving energy is critical for them.”
Sloths do not need to consume a lot of food because they have a slow metabolism, which makes it take them longer to digest food.
On average, sloths eat about 2.5 ounces of dried leaves per day and it takes the animal 28 days to digest one leaf.
Without being able to consume more food, your metabolic rate cannot increase fast enough to meet the increasing demands of climate change.
Their digestion rate is 24 times slower than other herbivores of similar size and they have a metabolic rate that is only 40 percent of what would be expected for their body weight.
Climate change is having an adverse effect on this adorable animal which cannot survive rising temperatures due to its slow energy production and inability to move to a cooler climate.
Although the existence of lowland sloths is at risk, researchers at The Sloth Conservation Foundation are most concerned about the future of highland sloths that reside in restricted high-altitude areas, making their relocation to regions difficult. colder.
“Unlike some species, sloths are creatures of habit, highly specialized in their habitat and not suitable for relocation to other regions,” Cliffe told Newsweek.
“If their environment gets too hot, they are unlikely to survive.”
He studypublished in the journal PeerJ Life & Environment, measured oxygen consumption and core body temperature of the highland and lowland sloth under conditions that mimicked climate change.
Their findings suggested that although lowland sloths could acclimatize to warmer temperatures by shifting their location to higher altitudes, highland sloths do not have the same opportunity.
“Sloths are inherently limited by their slow metabolism and unique inability to effectively regulate body temperature, unlike most mammals,” Cliffe said in a press release.
“Our research shows that sloths, especially in high-altitude regions, may not be able to survive the significant temperature increases projected for 2100.”